Roswell, Georgia SperlingViews

"Quality of Life"

Roswell is a great place to live and to raise a family. There are too many reasons as to why to be stated here. I have travelled the world and many places have their draws but Roswell is home. Enough said.

Roswell is a great place to live and to raise a family. There are too many reasons as to why to be stated here. I have travelled the world and many places have their draws but Roswell is home. Enough said.

North of Atlanta, Roswell is a true Suburb at it's best. The city is very family oriented with a good parks and recreation system and it's own cultural events to complement the larger Atlanta venues. The majority of the homes are situated in "Swim/Tennis" communities - each subdivision has it's own tennis court (or multiple) and swimming pools. Some of the large subdivisions have their own tennis leagues or swim teams. The area high schools are some of the best in the state (along with those in East Cobb county). There are also several private schools. The car is essential as there are several "sidewalks to nowhere". In addition, the city touts itself as being "bike friendly", although the only bike lanes are on extremely busy roads with speed limits of 45 plus. Being the parent of two preschoolers, there are several wonderful preschools associated with the local churches that the residents take advantage of, but no co-ops. Even with all the swim/tennis communities, the City of Roswell (and adjacent City of Alpharetta) both have very nice community pools and tennis areas with their baseball fields. The area is very hilly (rolly-Polly) and the north Georgia mountains (the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail is but an hours drive from Roswell) are close with many parks and trails. The Chattahoochee River runs through Roswell and has a very nice trail system and nature center. The town also has a cute historic area with restaurants and shops. The main highway to Atlanta is GA400 which carries as many commuters into the city as out of the city in the morning. Urbanites from Atlanta work in Roswell and Alpharetta as many business parks are located throughout the area. Commutes are difficult on GA400, but reasonable for the size of the area. Public transit is limited to buses this far north of Atlanta and the MARTA commuter train (built for the Olympics) does not extend north to Roswell. The northern station (a few minutes south of Roswell) will get you to the airport directly. This is truly the land of mini-vans and SUVs (I have a Honda Odyssey).

Roswell, Alpharetta & East Cobb are adjacent, extremely affluent, northern outer suburbs of Atlanta, very recently superimposed on small country towns through “sprawl”. The population in these areas is primarily composed of three types: rich Republicans, brainwashed Christians, and blue-collar people whose families were the original inhabitants prior to sprawl (sometimes called “rednecks” around here). Obviously, all these people are very conservative, though for different reasons. There are a scattering of people with other attitudes, but they are rare and, in any case, they generally keep their mouths firmly shut (as do I, I confess), so it can be very difficult to recognize them. The great majority of people here, if asked, would undoubtedly say that the dominant religion in the area is Christianity – and a pretty strong brand of it. Actually, the main religion is Materialism, in the form of Consumerism. Conspicuous consumption reigns supreme here. The most important aspects of life here are the size of your house, exactly which neighborhood it’s in, how expensive your vehicle is, and what your job title is. I have to admit that you can certainly buy a humongous house for a relatively small amount of money compared to other similarly affluent areas of the country. There's a very strong odor of Business, nouveau riche entitlement to the good life, and cigars in this place - for the business elites, but also for the aspiring legions of wannabes a little further down the ladder. The out-priced residual blue-collars live somewhat resentfully in parallel. Everybody mouths the old platitudes regarding the importance of education and talks about how excellent the local public schools are. This is hogwash. Most people don’t really know, or care, what the quality of the schools is. When you go into most peoples' houses, there's never a book in sight. I've had children in a local public high school, and the course content and the rigor are pathetically watered down, the grades laughably inflated. The local teenagers are typically spoiled/complacent and exist for partying/slacking, alcohol & other assorted drugs, and since this definitely remains the South, cars. Kids die in car accidents all too often around here. If you have a brain and like to use it for more than just scoping out business deals, you might want to consider someplace else. On the other hand, this is a philistine's paradise.